Archive | December 25th, 2010

NOVANEWS

The Zio=Nazo siege of Gaza is one of the most brutal manifestations of the Zionist Occupation. Since 2000, the Gaza Strip has been subject to a series of Zionist closure policies designed to isolate and restrict the movement of people and goods. Zio=Nazi’s imposed further economic restrictions on Gaza after Palestinians elected Hamas into government in 2006. When Hamas took control in 2007, the Gaza Strip was placed under military siege by Zionism – blockaded by land, sea and air.

The siege of Gaza has been identified as a war crime and a crime against humanity, as it punishes innocent civilians for offences they have not committed. The siege has created a humanitarian catastrophe. Four out of five Gazan’s are dependent on food aid to survive.

Zio=Nazi’s war crimes in Gaza have not been limited to the siege. In December 2008, Zionist embarked on a three-week assault on the people of Gaza codenamed Operation Cast Lead. The attack left over 1,400 Palestinians dead, including more than 300 children, and over 5,000 wounded. The United Nations Human Rights Council found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the three-weeks of the assault. Yet Israel experienced no international sanctions in response to its atrocities.

Zionist British government refused to condemn the Nazi’s actions during the assault on Gaza, and subsequently abstained from a crucial vote at the UN to endorse the Goldstone Report. Instead, the UK continues to sell arms to the Zio=Nazi regime, providing it with the materiel with which to carry out its acts of aggression.

TELL THE ZIONIST UK GOVERNMENT TO STOP ARMING THE NAZI’S

NOVANEWS

June 2, 2010

Belatedly –but better late than never–, Israeli Jews are beginning to acknowledge the extermination of over 1 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915-18. At a Tel Aviv demonstration Monday night, they event went so far as to compare the events to the sacrosanct Holocaust:

WHAT ABOUT THE PALESTINAN HOLOCAUST?

Cynics are claiming, though, that those Jews never gave a damn for the Armenians and nor do they now, and that they’re just using them to bash Turkey for its support of the Gaza flotilla.

NOVANEWS

December 13, 2010

Israel President Shimon Peres is agonizing over the recent racist document produced by several dozen State-paid rabbis. He understands it’s terrible publicity. But he also understands that the rabbis can’t be fired, because what they propose is basically what Israel was built on: denying Palestinian Arabs a place on earth.The affair broke out on Dec. 7 when some 36 rabbis signed a letter calling on their flocks not to sell or rent apartments to non-Jews — meaning, in an Israeli context, basically Arabs. By Dec. 9, two separate developments had taken place: on the one hand, secular Israeli Jewish politicians were quick to denounce the rabbis; on the other hand, some 240 other religious figures expressed their support for the racist ruling. Now for all the disclaimers the secular politicians may make, the sad fact is that they have failed to take concrete action against the rabbis. They understand the rabbis may be crazy, but their craziness is quite mainstream: up to 46% of Israeli Jews don’t want to live next to an Arab.

The curious thing is how news agencies try to present a “balanced account.” Associated Press, in first reporting the racist ruling, claimed:

Israeli Jews have increasingly been questioning the loyalty of Arab citizens, who legally enjoy the same rights but tend to be poorer and discriminated against in state funding and job opportunities.

Arabs do not enjoy the same rights as Jews. Jews are entitled to the benefits of the Law of Return; Arabs are not. How can this influence someone’s life? By affecting their ability to remain a citizen. Israel’s Nationality Law provides that:

# 11. (a) Where an Israel national –

* (1) became an Israel national on the basis of false particulars; or
* (2) has been abroad for seven consecutive years and has no effective connection with Israel, and has not proved that his effective connection with Israel was severed otherwise than by his own volition; or
* (3) has committed an act constituting a breach of allegiance to the State of Israel,

the District Court may, on the application of the Minister, annul his nationality.

As can be seen, an Arab Israeli who pursues a career abroad may have his nationality revoked and loses any further right to it, while a Jewish Israeli in a similar situation can reapply for it under the Law of Return. Hardly the same rights for both groups of people.

AP goes on to report:

Meanwhile, some members of the Arab minority have become radicalized by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and are openly speaking about turning the Jewish state into part of a binational state that would be home to Israelis and Palestinians both.

You see, one outrage cancels the other. The rabbis may want to deny housing to the Arabs, but the Arabs want a country for all. Both equally worrying forms of hate.

Still more from the venerable Associated Press:

Rabbi David Rosen, the interfaith adviser to Israel’s chief rabbinate, described the rabbis’ action as “disturbing” but said he did not think that the majority of the country’s rabbis would agree and called it a product of the lingering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

“The rabbinate as a whole isn’t xenophobic or hostile to Arabs,” Rosen said. “As long as the conflict goes on here, it’s logical to assume that the attitudes of all sides will harden, which is deeply regrettable.”

That this kind of logic can be presented without objections is striking. Of course, the Catholic clergy as a whole is not paedophilic, but child-molesting priests taint the whole Church so long as action isn’t taken against them. At the very least, that “majority of the country’s rabbis” could produce a counter-document and shun their hateful colleagues. It hasn’t happened. It won’t happen.

Also, the “hardening” of positions is of a very diferent nature and significance when one group can hurt the other with its hard positions but not the other way round.

On Sunday, the hate festival seemed to continue as the rabbis of the Israeli Jewish city of Rosh Ha-Ayin, including the chief rabbi, declared a ban on hiring Arabs at stores which employ Jewish girls. “They want to steal our daughters” — sound familiar?

Since the story was published in Hebrew and not picked up by main news agencies, Peres felt in no hurry to repudiate the incident.

NOVANEWS

December 23, 2010

By now no one denies the existence of a deeply racist segment within the Israeli Jewish society, which operates with a freedom unseen in any other advanced democracy. Belgian priests signing a document against intermarriage with Muslims, for instance, or American politicians suggesting that Mexicans should not be allowed in certain neighborhoods, would be met not only with oprobium, but also with legal actions. Not so in Israel, where the housing minister can claim that the Arab and Jewish populations should not mix with hardly an eyebrow being raised.

The standard Zionist line of defense is that such elements are a tiny minority in Israel, and that the vast majority of Israeli Jews repudiate their discourse.

The events last Monday in Bat Yam, a suburb of Tel Aviv, would, however, suggest otherwise. As the Jerusalem Post reported:

Hundreds gathered at a demonstration in Bat Yam on Monday evening to protest the presence of Arab residents in the suburb south of Tel Aviv, and to warn against what they said was a worrying trend of Arabs “defiling” Jewish girls there and across Israel.

Posters advertising the protest said “The Arabs are taking over Bat Yam, buying and renting apartments from Jews and taking Jewish girls, whom they defile.” They also stated that “15,000 Jewish girls have been taken to [Arab] villages!” and “What would you do if an Arab man hit on your sister? We’ll put an end to this!”

The demo got the support of extremist politicians:

Far-right MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) attended the rally with his aide and fellow activist Itamar Ben-Gvir in tow. Ben-Ari said he had come “to see the Jews who are standing up for themselves. We are standing before a disaster, and our politicians are more concerned with ideas like democracy, ideas that our enemies exploit in order to attack the State of Israel.”

Moshe Ben-Zikri, a community administrator from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev, who recently waged a campaign against the quarter’s Arab residents, told The Jerusalem Post, “Today, the Arab enemy is taking over all over Israel. They act innocent, they say we’re only here to rent an apartment, and then they take over house by house. Our girls fall victim to their temptation. Not only that, but crime and drugs, all of it comes with the Arabs; none of that stuff takes place in a Jewish area until the Arabs come.”

Like so many political loonies, these gentlemen had a conspiracy theory to explain it all: the Arabs are undermining Jewish society by taking their unwitting women.

Ben-Zikri said Arabs posed a special threat to innocent Jewish girls, who were easy prey.

“These Arabs, they speak Hebrew, they look just like us and they tempt our women,” he said. “Some guy named Arafat says his name is Ofer, and so on. Our girls don’t know these guys are Arab and they fall victim to them and families are destroyed. They [the Arabs] don’t have to kill people to destroy families.”

But according to their own probably inflated figures, just 15,000 Jewish women, of a total of some 3,000,000 in the country, are married to Arabs — i.e., one-half of one percent. Irrational fears of minorities have always been a specialty of racists.

It’s not that the Jews have any obligation to be more moral than other peoples, but if anything remotely close to this gathering had taken place in Western Europe or North America it would have been instant news worldwide; and if the target of the speeches had been the Jews the outrage would have been universal. Double standards anyone?

Ah, but what about the Jewish reaction against this atrocious demonstration? It did take place — but see:

A counter-protest was held a few hundred meters away, where several dozen demonstrators chanted such slogans as “Bat Yam: A city for everyone” and “Down with racism.” One protester there held a sign reading, “I love Arabs, ask me how,” while another placard showed a picture of a smiling couple under the words “I married an Arab!”

Barak Sella, a 25-year-old organizer for the southern branch of left-wing youth group Hano’ar Ha’oved Vehalomed, said he had come with several other group members “in order to show our opposition to the other protest, but also to get across our message of unity, which is that we will keep Bat Yam Jewish and democratic.”

As can be seen, opponents to the racist gathering could be counted in the dozens, while the racists themselves could be counted in the hundreds. There’s an order of magnitude of difference between the hateful camp and the tolerant one, which would suggest that if the former is a tiny minority, the latter is downright marginal. Furthermore, the tolerant gathering was made up of those people no one would think of as representative of Israel, and who are often described as self-hating Jews.

However they try to spin it, the phenomenon of unabashedly racist (and highly vocal) Jews in Israel is there to stay, to the shameful inaction of the rest of the society.

NOVANEWS

26 December 2010

The sound and fury directed at Wikileaks in the last month has (largely) been against the group itself rather than the revelations in the cables. Salon’s Glenn Greenwald outlines what we now know and why many in the political and media elites are afraid of the public learning of crimes committed in their names:

As revealing as the disclosures themselves are, the reactions to them have been equally revealing. The vast bulk of the outrage has been devoted not to the crimes that have been exposed but rather to those who exposed them: WikiLeaks and (allegedly) Bradley Manning. A consensus quickly emerged in the political and media class that they are Evil Villains who must be severely punished, while those responsible for the acts they revealed are guilty of nothing.

That reaction has not been weakened at all even by the Pentagon’s own admission that, in stark contrast to its own actions, there is no evidence — zero — that any of WikiLeaks’ actions has caused even a single death. Meanwhile, the American establishment media — even in the face of all these revelations — continues to insist on the contradictory, Orwellian platitudes that (a) there is Nothing New™ in anything disclosed by WikiLeaks and (b) WikiLeaks has done Grave Harm to American National Security™ through its disclosures.

It’s unsurprising that political leaders would want to convince people that the true criminals are those who expose acts of high-level political corruption and criminality, rather than those who perpetrate them. Every political leader would love for that self-serving piety to take hold. But what’s startling is how many citizens and, especially, “journalists” now vehemently believe that as well.

In light of what WikiLeaks has revealed to the world about numerous governments, just fathom the authoritarian mindset that would lead a citizen — and especially a “journalist” — to react with anger that these things have been revealed; to insist that these facts should have been kept concealed and it’d be better if we didn’t know; and, most of all, to demand that those who made us aware of it all be punished (the True Criminals) while those who did these things (The Good Authorities) be shielded.

Posted in PoliticsComments Off on WIKILEAKS TELL US THE BIGGEST STORIES OF THE YEAR

Christmas is the most holy day for the of the all the people of world wherever we are. Christmas is even more than a religious moment. For our forefathers took up the Christian faith and expressed its motif in the very art, heart and soul of what we call Western Civilization.

Today, Christmas has even transcended that motif. For Christmas has become about all that we celebrate as Europeans. After its Christian symbolism, it is foremost about family, roots and community.

It is no accident that it closely coincides with the even more ancient European celebration of solstice, for solstice is the celebration of the nadir of winter, and the warmth and beauty and light to come. And it certainly is the most meaningful day of the year for all Europeans; Protestant or Catholic, Christian or Norse, Believer or nonbeliever. For on this day we are all believers in a sense.

We are believers in goodness, in beauty, in nature, in love, in the bright faces of our children and the angelic light reflected from their eyes and hair.

All the way through Christmas is the expression of life, from the birth of the savior, to the symbol of life and nature expressed in our fragrant evergreen Christmas trees, to the sheer joy on the faces of our children, to the ruddy-faced white bearded Santa Claus in his red-brightened costume of the far north.

An apt symbol is Father Christmas for he is like the archetypical grandfather of our people. European legend has him coming from the northern icy regions, and that symbolizes the ancestral home of our people. In fact, our race was fashioned and honed in the crucible of the last great ice age and the fierce weather that ruled over Europe 40,000 years ago. This archetypical European Santa comes to us in the dead of winter and the dead of night to bring us gifts of love, joy and hope!

For all of us in the Movement dedicated to the life and freedom of our people, Christmas should be a holy day and Christmas eve a holy night, a silent night of wonder, beauty and meaning. The most daunting enemy of our people is hopelessness and despair. We who are fully aware of the ongoing genocide across the world, the onrushing death of the West and the people of the West, sometimes seek to lessen the hurt in our heart of hearts by the solace of alcohol or what is but a mass addiction to the great spectator sports in the Western World, anything it seems to get our minds off of the mind-numbing prospect of the destruction and extinction of all we hold close to our hearts.

As solstice/Christmas is the nadir of winter, so this moment in history is the nadir of our people. But, the winter winds of death will be replaced soon with a warm spring breeze of life and renewal. We have been given the gifts of Christmas. One gift we have is the Internet by which our people can communicate wherever they are in the world… in an instant. We now have the ability to get the truth out to you at the speed of light wherever you are.

Right now as you read or hear these words, there are teenage boys and girls in their own homes around the world who hear these words along with you. And these words sing to their hearts as they do sing from mine. What is the song we sing? It is the song of love of family and folk, it is the song of life and of freedom, it is the song of beauty and achievement, it is the song our people have sung in their hearts from the time they emerged from the snow mists and brought civilization to the earth.

Have no fear, this is the Winter solstice of our people, the Spring will not be far behind if only you keep the faith, keep the beauty for which we strive in your hearts, contemplate these things in the silence of Christmas eve, and celebrate them in the unrestrained joy of Christmas day with family and friends, for these days are your days, make them meaningful.

Wikileaks: Shabak Told U.S. Hamas Wouldn’t Take Over Gaza

U.S. Military Attache in Israel: Ahmadinejad Like ‘Little German Guy With Moustache’ »==========================

Wikileaks: Mossad Sells U.S. on Iran Regime Change Plan

Consider this reverse scenario: four separate planes carrying hundreds of IDF soldiers crash in a single year all due to mysterious circumstances not traceable to mechanical or human failure. Israeli nuclear scientists die in bombings and under other violent circumstances. Retired Israeli generals and a deputy defense minister are kidnapped and spirited to Teheran.

Mysterious explosions at Israeli missile bases leave scores dead. And a mysterious computer worm leaves the Dimona nuclear reactor virtually incapacitated. Whenever asked about any of these incidents Iranian politicians and military officers smile knowingly while Iranian media are filled with stories trumpeting the derring-do of its intelligence services. Finally, various Iranian generals, intelligence directors and political leaders publicly call for regime change in Israel, a full-fledged assault on Israel to force it to renounce its nuclear program, end the Occupation and topple the current government.

Put the shoe on the other foot and think how Israel would react if it came under the type of attack to which Israel is subjecting Iran. Of course, Israel would react with full scale war. It would warn Iran that the next such incident would invoke full-fledged hostilities. And it would be true to its word. Now compare this with how Iran has reacted to the same types of provocations. Iran has not declared war on Israel. It hasn’t demanded a Security Council session to denounce Israeli aggression. Iran is keeping its cool relatively well considering what it’s facing. Much better than Israel would under similar circumstances.

On a similar subject, a recently released Wikileaks cable reveals that Mossad chief Meir Dagan met with Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns in August, 2007. The unbelievably self-serving nonsense that emerged from Israel’s chief intelligence official is astounding. Among other things, he urged the U.S. to join together with Israel on a plan for regime change:

Turning to Iran, Dagan observed that it is in a transition period. There is debate among the leadership between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad and their respective supporters. Instability in Iran is driven by inflation and tension among ethnic minorities. This, Dagan said, presents unique opportunities, and Israelis and Americans might see a change in Iran in their lifetimes. As for Iraq, it may end up a weak, federal state…

Dagan said that more should be done to foment regime change in Iran, possibly with the support of student democracy movements, and ethnic groups (e.g., Azeris, Kurds, Baluchs) opposed to the ruling regime…Iran’s minorities are “raising their heads, and are
tempted to resort to violence.”

Dagan urged more attention on regime change, asserting that more could be done to develop the identities of ethnic minorities in Iran. He said he was sure that Israel and the U.S. could “change the ruling regime in Iran, and its attitude towards backing terror regimes.” He added, “We could also get them to delay their nuclear project. Iran could become a normal state.”

By which Dagan clearly means a state that is obedient to Israeli and U.S. interests.
Clearly, there is coöperation and coördination between the U.S. and Israel regarding covert ops/destabilization efforts against Iran as this passage of the cable indicates:

Covert Measures: Dagan and the Under Secretary agreed not to discuss this approach in the larger group setting.

Given all of the information quoted above it seems entirely credible, even certain that the Mossad, with the collaboration of internal dissident forces like Jundallah and Mujuhadeen e-Khalq, have been responsible for the series of bombings, assassinations and attempts against the lives of political leaders and nuclear scientists within Iran. The grand plan of the Mossad seems to be to combine paralyzing economic sanctions which provoke instability and unrest, with sabotage and political fragmentation to weaken the regime and eventually topple it.

The language of the cable seems to indicate that the U.S. isn’t quite on board with the regime change aspect of Israel’s plan. But certainly Dagan is quite content that existing policy and a few energetic shoves of the right direction will bring an end to the Ayatollah regime and replace it with one that is “normal” (whatever that means). One wonders what might have to be done to create an Israel that its neighbors and the rest of the world might view as “normal.”

The unfortunate truth for Dagan is that at least so far, his grand scheme has come up short. While Iran is under increasing economic distress as evidenced by yesterday’s quadrupling of the price of gasoline and announcement that other critical subsidies for bread and other necessities would be lessened or phased out, Iran remains a coherent, though troubled state. While the message doesn’t seem to have been heard in Tel Aviv, the ability of the regime to withstand the discontent following the June election fiasco indicated to any reasonable observer that this was not a political system that would go easily or willingly. It will take a lot more to topple the mullahs than a couple of bombings and a sabotaged nuclear program.

To put it even more directly, Israeli policy regarding Iran is founded on completely unrealistic, even deluded premises. As I recently heard former CIA officer Ray McGovern say about U.S. views on Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s approach to Iran is faith-based rather than evidence-based. And faith-based policy or intelligence is the absolute worst kind. You can convince yourself of virtually anything if your analysis is not based on rock-solid evidence and reality, as Israel has done. Faith-based analysis got us into Iraq and to an extent fueled Obama’s foray into Afghanistan. Faith-based intelligence policy is hunting down Taliban militants in Pakistan with CIA drones. None of this will bring the types of changes the U.S. would like to see in the region. Just as none of the principles Dagan enunciates above will bring the type of result he wishes (a new Iranian regime).

NOVANEWS

16th of Tevet 5771
23rd of December, 2010

Eight Times El-Arakib has Fallen, and it will Arise Eight Times – Rabbis 4 Human Rights

Rabbis For Human Rights protests the insensitivity and violence of Israeli authorities in demolishing the homes of the residents of the “unrecognized” Bedouin Negev village El-Arakib again and again, while not making the effort to work with the residents to find a compromise solution. We are terribly saddened that the State of Israel ignores hundreds of building violations in the Occupied Territories and inside the Green Line, but has adopted a hard line policy towards peaceful Israeli Bedouin citizens.This latest demolition was carried out with tens of troops and bulldozers, just a day before the beginning of a two week vacation for now homeless schoolchildren.

RHR calls for all those desiring peace and good neighborliness with our country to support our Bedouin citizens and demand an immediate moratorium of all demolitions and evictions until the Beer Sheva District Court rules on the petitions by the Bedouin to reclaim their lands.

We pray that the Land of Israel will be good and gracious to all of her citizens

Just last Friday, RHR organized an interfaith service in El Arakib with over 300 participants and Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders,

In these difficult moments, the rabbis of RHR extend our sympathy and prayers to the residents of El-Arakib, and again call on people of faith in Israel and around the world to continue reciting RHR’s prayer prayer for El Arakib his weekend in synagogues, mosques, in Christmas worship and in other places of worship.

A Prayer For the Residents of El-Arakib

How is it that El-Arakib sits alone and desolate, like a widow a seventh time? “The Daughter of Zion has lost her glory.” For, while we had dreamed that our state would “Ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or gender,” our prayers have not yet been fulfilled.

Our God and God or our ancestors (God of our fathers; God or our fathers and mothers), side with those who are oppressed, although they have done no wrong. Stand with our brothers and sisters, fellow citizens and partners in Israel’s destiny, whose tents have been ravaged and all their tent cords broken. Strengthen them even has planners of evil prepare to replace their homes with forests, leaving only their cemetery testifying to the generations that once lived in that place. May it be your will that forests will arise in Israel speedily and in our day, but not upon the ruins of Bedouin communities.

“Shabbat is not a time for lamentation,” and “Our hope is not yet lost” for a country that is based on “Freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel.” Sustain our determination not to remain silent, so that we may help bring about the vision of Your prophet, “You shall be called ‘City of Righteousness, Faithful City.’ Zion shall be redeemed through justice, her repentant ones by righteousness.”

“May the favor of Adonai, our God, be upon us;
Let the work of our hands prosper
O proper the work of our hands.”

Citations:
מראה מקומות: How is it that El-Arakib sits alone and desolate, like a widow a seventh time? (Based on Lamentations 1:1, ‘How is it that the city sits alone and desolate’)

The Daughter of Zion has lost her glory (Lamentations 1:6)
Ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or gender (Israeli Declaration of Independence)
Side with those who are oppressed (Based on Midrash Tanhuma: Emor 9, (‘God sides with the oppressed [the one being pursued]’)
Whose tents have been ravaged and all their tent cords broken (Based on Jeremiah 10:20, ‘Mytents zare ravaged, all my tent cords are broken’)
Shabbat is not a time for lamentation (Prayerbook)
Freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel (Israeli Declaration of Independence)

Not to remain silent (Based on Isaiah 62:1, ‘For the sake of Zion I will not be silent’)
You shall be called ‘City of Righteousness, FaithfulCity.’ Zion shall be redeemed through justice, her repentant ones by righteousness (Isaiah 1:27)
May the favor of Adonai, our God, be upon us;
Let the work of our hands prosper
O prosper the work of our hands (Psalms 90:17)
General Background

In 1948, the Bedouin population in Israel’s Negev numbered approximately one hundred thousand persons. Following the War of Independence in 1948-1949, most of these individuals were expelled/fled to Gaza, Jordan, or the Sinai Peninsula, even though they took no part in hostilities against Israel. The Jahalin tribe were intimidated into leaving for the West Bank in the early 50’s, well after the war. Throughout the Negev, only about 11,000 Bedouin remained. Following international diplomatic pressure, relatively small numbers of expelled Bedouin were allowed to return to Israel.

Before the war, Bedouin lived in all parts of the Negev (an area of approximately 13 million dunams, or 3.25 million acres) and earned their livelihood by raising sheep and goats throughout the region, as well as by agriculture, growing wheat and other grains, on an area of approximately 2 million dunams (about half a million acres).

At the beginning of the 1950’s, the State of Israel decided to evict from their lands most of the Bedouin then residing in the central and western Negev, both fertile and well-watered areas, and resettle them in the eastern Negev, a barren area with very little rainfall.

Bedouin were either moved by force, or persuaded to “move temporarily” for the sake of military exercises, etc. However, even after being transferred from their lands and villages to the area of the eastern Negev, the Bedouin communities in their new locations were not recognized either. Governmental officials did not allocate other lands to them as compensation, nor did they see to it that these persons were provided with basic services and employment as was done for millions of Jewish immigrants who arrived in Israel during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Today, this sad and disgraceful situation still remains the lot of half of the Bedouin residents of the Negev, who reside in 45 unrecognized villages. Because these villages do not exist as far as the state is concerned, they aree entirely lacking infrastructures for water, electricity, roads, education, and health care. An additional 95,000 Bedouin reside in seven towns that Israel set up for their settlement, but in which everyday living conditions are extremely difficult, with high rates of unemployment and inferior municipal services in comparison with the Jewish settlements in the Negev. These seven Bedouin towns are located statistically at the bottom of the socio-economic scale of all settlements in Israel.

Despite the Bedouin appeals to allow them to choose for themselves the type of settlements in which they will live — whether urban, rural, or community-based — the State of Israel insists on settling the Bedouin in newly established towns clearly inappropriate for the Bedouin way of life. Israelis are concerned about Bedouin taking over the Negev and feel that the land is needed for the Jewish population. However, the lands claimed by the Bedouin are only 3% of the entire Negev. When Bedouin attempt to return to their ancestral lands, they are portrayed as trespassers, squatting and taking over land that belongs to the State.

During the 1970’s, when given the opportunity to do so, 3,200 Bedouin landowners, filed claims of ownership for lands covering approximately 900,000 dunam in area (today the outstanding claims pertain to 650,000 dunams) out of a total of 13 million dunam over which the Negev extends. (There are four dunam to an acre) Today, after decades, most of the claims for ownership have still not been brought to court, most of the witnesses to the ownership of the lands have died, the lands have not been returned to their owners, and the injustice has been left uncorrected.

If this were not enough, recently the State of Israel has used the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to further the eviction of Bedouins in the Negev by planting trees on lands to which the latter claim ownership. As the battle over these lands intensifies Israel authorities have stepped up the demolition of homes, destruction of crops, preventing of grazing, etc. There is no possibility of building legally in an unrecognized village, because there is no building plan. All use of the land for agricultural purposes or grazing is deemed to be an illegal intrusion.

In recent years, the Bedouin have been trying to use the Israeli legal system to regain their lands. The Bedouin have brought evidence regarding continuous Bedouin occupation and cultivation of the lands around Beersheba. They have brought documentation of the fact that Bedouin lands were governed for generations by a well functioning traditional land ownership system, sanctioned by the Ottoman and British authorities. Unfortunately, the Bedouin did not register their land in the British land title books

Another reality is possible. Some one dozen villages have been recognized in recent years. These villages were previously in the exact same situation as El-Arakib, slated for evacuation. A committee set up by the government has called the situation of the unrecognized villages untenable and recommended recognizing many more, but the government does not wish to do so.

The Family Farms Law legalized the status of 60 Jewish (and one Arab) family ranches and farms set up without planning approval in the Negev. This is another precedent which could be used to grant a legal status to Bedouin communities.

El-Arakib:

El-Arakib is a community of some 300 men, women and children approximately 10 kilometers north of Beersheba. The cemetery with the graves of generations of the El-Turi tribe testifies to the fact that this community existed long before the establishment of the State of Israel. The tribe says that it has lived there since the 19th century, and they have Turkish and British documents showing that they worked, the land and paid taxes. There are also bills of sale and purchase between tribes. In 1907 and in 1929 the El-Turis purchased land from the El-Ukbi tribe totaling some 1,600 dunam.

At the beginning of the 1950’s, Israel evacuated by force the Bedouin living in el‑Arakib, north of Beer Sheba. The evacuees were told that their lands were needed for military exercises, and promised that within six months they would be allowed to return to their village. This promise that was not kept. Instead, by means of the Land Purchase Legislation of 1953, various government agencies used the forced absence of the Bedouin from the area to transfer ownership of their lands to the State.

Many of the members of the El-Turi tribe had been moved to the nearby town of Rahat. They maintained some grazing rights, and would return to El-Arakib to try and farm the land, or to be buried in the cemetery. However, the lands largely remained fallow for some 50 years.

The Israel Land Administration (ILA) transferred by lease the lands of el-Arakib to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) for the purpose of forestation. Following approval authorized by the ILA, the JNF began land works of unprecedented proportions on the lands of el-Arakib resulting in massive changes in the region’s topography and the forestation of these lands. The JNF last week established a large new bulldozer camp just one kilometer from El-Arakib, and is now planting one million trees in Israel, including many near the village of Al-Arakib, as part of the “God-TV Forest.” JNF has accepted substantial donations from an evangelical Christian ministry called God-TV, who claim to have received “instructions from God…to prepare the land for the return of my Son…[to] plant a million trees.”

Approximately ten years ago, understanding that the plan was to erase their village by means of forestation, they returned and built homes, and began pressing their claims in court. Their case is currently in front of the Beersheba District Court, but these cases can take years to adjudicate. There have been constant attempts to demolish these homes, and every year agricultural crops are sprayed and killed.

The struggle has reached new heights since the summer of 2010. The ILA has demolished El-Arakib seven times between July and November. While they have not tried to rebuild their more permanent structures, they have time after time attempted to rebuild simple tents, shacks and other forms of shelter with makeshift materials. Each time massive numbers of police, helicopters and bulldozers come to demolish the families take refuge in the cemetery, the one area where they are left alone. From the cemetery and the temporary shelters that are built anew after every demolition, one can see the forests approaching from several directions, even as helicopters whip up dust in the nearby military training zone.

“We are not invaders, nor squatters,” said Sheikh Sayyah. “It is the state that.

22 DECEMBER 2010

Al-Arabiya, Nazareth Illit, ISRAEL (AFP)

The mayor of a Jewish suburb of Nazareth sparked outrage on Wednesday after refusing to allow Christmas trees to be placed in town squares, calling them provocative.

Predominantly Jewish Nazareth Illit, or Upper Nazareth, is adjacent to Nazareth, where Jesus is said to have spent much of his life. It has a sizable Arab Christian minority, as does mostly Muslim Nazareth itself.

“The request of the Arabs to put Christmas trees in the squares in the Arab quarter of Nazareth Illit is provocative,” Mayor Shimon Gapso told AFP.

“Nazareth Illit is a Jewish city and it will not happen — not this year and not next year, so long as I am a mayor,” he said of the northern Israeli town.

“Nazareth is right next door and they can do what they want there,” he said.

His decision angered the town’s Arab and Christian minority, who accused him of racism.

“The racism of not putting a tree up is nothing compared to the real racism that we experience here,” said Aziz Dahdal, a 35-year-old Christian resident of Nazareth Illit.

“When we asked the mayor to put up a Christmas tree in the Arab neighborhoods of Nazareth Illit he said this is a Jewish town, not a mixed town,” said Shukri Awawdeh, a Muslim Arab member of the town council.

Awawdeh said there were 10,000 Arabs, most of them Christian in the town and there was also a large community of Christian Russian immigrants.

“We told him that decorating a tree is just to share the happiness and cheer with other people in the town,” said Awawdeh.

“People here, Jews, Christians and Muslims live in harmony, but when the mayor does something like that, it does not make things better.”

December 25, 2010

This harrowing video from Operation Dove documents the demolition of three water cisterns and two old wells in the bedouin villages of Khashem Ad-Daraj-Hathaleen, in South Hebron Hills, on December 14, 2010. Most of the destroyed structures predate the Israeli Occupation by decades if not more.

We are appealing to you to ask your assistance in operating a learning enrichment program for the children of the cave-dwellers’ community of Umm-Fakra.

In light of the positive experience with such programs, and in response to a local initiative – we would like to assist in opening yet another center of learning enrichment programs for children in South Mount Hebron, this time in the locality Umm-Fakra. The annual cost for the first pilot year is estimated at only $4,000 or 3,000 Euro. The Villages Group is able to offer tax-deductible donation via partners in the US and UK (see our donation link for details).

We would be most grateful if you could take the time to read the attached plan (a text-only version follows below), and contact us if you are interested in contributing in any way to its advancement.

This appeal refers to both the new program in Umm-Fakra and to the general initiative of enrichment programs in South Mount Hebron.

Sincerely,

Erella and Ehud,

The Villages Group

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Enrichment Learning Program for Children Aged 6-14 in Umm-Fakra, South Hebron Hills (Massafar Yatta), Occupied West Bank

The Villages Group, December 2010

Goals:

To establish an educational framework for strengthening and enriching students in primary school to help them cope with learning difficulties and prevent dropout.

To empower an Umm-Fakra resident who is the village’s first university graduate, by employing him to establish and implement the learning & enrichment classes.

The overall goal here—as elsewhere in the South Hebron Mountain—is to empower the residents of Umm-Fakra and support them in their efforts to strengthen and empower their communities. The internal strength of these communities will enable them to withstand the many difficulties they face, and to continue living on their lands.

Background:

The South Hebron Hills (Massafar Yatta) is a mountainous region located in the southern part of the West Bank. Many of its residents are cave dwellers, living in traditional villages. During the years of Israeli occupation, some of these cave villages were destroyed by the army, while others have been deserted by their inhabitants under pressure from Israeli settlers. Those still in existence were saved from eviction by the Israeli authorities through a cooperative effort of local residents and Israeli and international human right organizations.

The surviving villages are not recognized by the Israeli occupation authorities, which have disregarded international law requiring that an occupying force take responsibility for the welfare of residents living in occupied areas. The policy of non-recognition means that the villagers still residing in the area are denied basic services, such as water, electricity, and building permits. It should be noted that the Oslo Accords placed the South Hebron Mountain in Area C, that is, in the areas for which Israel has full responsibility.

Umm-Fakra (Fig. 1) is one of the villages that have survived in spite of the harsh conditions. To its south lies the Arad valley, and to the north – Tuwani, the only recognized Palestinian village in the region. On its eastern perimeter it is flanked by the settlement Ma’on and the violent outpost Chavat Ma’on, while the settlement Avigail sits on Umm-Fakra’s lands to the west. The presence of these settlements severely curtails the access of Umm-Fakra’s residents to the agricultural lands and grazing grounds they legally own, and which provide most of their livelihood.

Of the approximately 120 souls in Umm-Fakra, 30 are children ages 6 through 14 (1st through 8th grades). Today, they attend the primary school in Tuwani, a half-hour walk from their homes. Although Tuwani is a recognized village, the school operates only four hours a day, because Israel’s occupation authorities governing the area do not provide support for the educational system, and the resources provided instead by the Palestinian Authority are minimal.

Rationale

Umm-Fakra’s residents live under harsh conditions: mountainous topography, desert climate, limited sources of livelihood, constant threat of eviction by the occupation authorities, and a de facto creeping eviction by the neighboring settlements.

The harsh conditions, as well as the limited support from an undermined educational system for both struggling students and the most talented ones, are causing learning difficulties: some students fail to acquire the basic skills of reading, writing, and math, while those who master the skills often fail to keep up with their studies at later stages. Many students end up dropping out to help their families out with livelihood and house chores.

Post-elementary education is even harder to obtain. The nearest high school is more than an hour’s walk away, placing students at the mercy of hostile settlers. To reach the universities located in the towns of Yatta and Hebron students must use limited and expensive transportation.

Responsibility for the Program:

Responsibility for establishing and running the proposed program will be taken by Mr. Ali Hmamdeh (Fig. 2). Ali was born and raised in Umm-Fakra. With tenacity and resourcefulness, he has been able to overcome numerous difficulties and successfully graduate from the program in Arabic and Education at the Open University in Yatta (July 2009). He is the first Umm-Fakra resident to hold an academic degree. However, like many degree holding Palestinians, he remains unemployed – victim of a paralyzed occupation economy, and of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to remedy the situation.

Ali has the ability and the desire to contribute to others. Umm-Fakra needs his services. It was Ali who first proposed the idea for an enrichment program for students in his community. Moreover, the members of the Villages’ Group, who have helped fund Ali’s academic studies, support his proposal and are doing what they can to bring it to life.

Educational framework: Two age groups: 6-9 and 10-14; each group will meet for 1.5 hours on each of the three days.

Areas of study:

Reading and writing skills;

Math for beginning grades;

Arabic, History, Geography, Quran and tradition.

Additional areas of study will require hiring a second teacher and are proposed for a later phase of the program, based on the success of the initial pilot. These would include: English, Sciences, Art.